Waste generation and resource recovery in Australia

Executive summary

In June 2012, the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities (DSEWPaC) engaged Blue Environment Pty Ltd in association with Randell Environmental Consulting (REC) to report on Waste Generation and Resource Recovery in Australia (WGRRA) during 2010/11.
This report aims to present, analyse and discuss the most up-to-date set of Australian and jurisdictional solid waste data, focusing on:

recycling

energy recovery

resource recovery (where resource recovery = recycling + energy recovery)

disposal

waste generation (where waste generation = resource recovery + disposal).

This is the fifth in a series of data compilations on waste and resource recovery in Australia. The four previous iterations were known as the Waste and Recycling in Australia reports. This version of the report has been re-titled to better reflect its focus and to differentiate it from the earlier reports, which did not extend to data interpretation or five-year time-series analysis.
Detailed data and analysis for 2010/11 are accompanied by trend data from 2006/07. The time series analysis of trends from 2006/07 has not relied upon data from previous Waste and Recycling in Australia reports. To ensure that the trend analysis was based on consistently compiled data, the raw data were revisited and the annual figures were recalculated. The results may not always be consistent with previous Waste and Recycling in Australia reports.
The report structure is broadly grouped into three parts outlined below.

Sections 7 to 18 include the main data presentation and analysis. These sections present the national data, international comparisons and jurisdictional data.

Sections 19 to 24 provide analysis of a several important areas, namely: organics, product stewardship, and local government data, an overview of policy frameworks, barriers to resource recovery, and the environmental impacts of waste management.

Sections 25 to 31 document the key definitions and data collation approaches that underpin the report. The report scope and method are discussed in detail here, including the degree of alignment with the method set out in Section 3 of the previous version of this report, Waste and Recycling in Australia 2011. An overview of the data collation assumptions used in the development of the report’s data is also provided.

E1 Summary 2010/2011 data

In 2010/11, Australians on average generated 2.2 tonnes per capita of waste, 60% of which was recycled or recovered for embodied energy. Inclusion of fly ash from coal fired power stations increases average per capita waste generation by 28% to 2.8 tonnes, with a resource recovery rate of 56%. In total, Australia generated around 48 million tonnes (Mt) of waste excluding fly ash, and 62 Mt including fly ash.
The quantity of waste generated per capita in Australian jurisdictions appears to generally increase with income per capita and with the level of urbanisation. Tonnage totals correlate with population and gross state product (GSP). Figure E1 provides a summary of waste generation, management and resource recovery rate in each jurisdiction.

Figure E1: Australia by jurisdiction 2010/11 (a) per capita and (b) total waste generated by management including resource recovery rate (excluding fly ash)

(a)



(b)



The resource recovery rate for each jurisdiction is given as a percentage above each column

E1.1 2010/11 data international comparison

Australia generated more waste per capita than the US, Canada and NZ but less than the UK and Germany. This may be partly a manifestation of better data collection systems.
Australia’s recovery rate of 60% by weight compares well to nations other than Germany and the UK. Their higher level of performance reflects directives prohibiting unsorted waste going to landfill and greater use of advanced waste processing and energy from waste (EfW) facilities. It may also reflect greater viability of recycling due to higher waste disposal costs and denser populations.

A comparison was made of 2010/11 waste generation and recovery rates for municipal solid waste (MSW) among nations that are members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). It found that:

Australia was ranked the twelfth highest waste generator of MSW of the 34 nations considered, reflecting population, size and level of affluence.

On a per capita basis, Australia was ranked seventh highest for MSW generation of the nations considered.

Australia’s levels of MSW resource recovery were similar to those in the UK, Finland, Italy and the US, but were significantly below many northern and western EU nations and Korea. These nations make greater use of EfW facilities and often also divert a greater proportion of MSW to composting. Nations such as Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Belgium dispose of less than 2% by weight of MSW directly to landfill.

E1.2 2010/11 waste stream and material category summary

In 2010/11, about 14 Mt of MSW was generated nationally. About 51% was recovered – the lowest resource recovery rate of the three main waste streams. Some 15 Mt of commercial and industrial (C&I) waste was generated, of which 59% was recovered. Construction and demolition (C&D) waste generation was around 18 Mt. At 66%, the resource recovery rate was the highest of the three streams.
Figure E2 shows the quantity of waste generated in Australia by material category in 2010/11. It also shows how the waste materials were managed and (above each column) the resource recovery rates. The organics and plastics categories perhaps present the greatest opportunities for improved recovery, given the range of end uses and, for plastics, a relatively strong commodity value.

Figure E2: Australia 2010/11, total waste generation by material category and management